


As Strong As Death

by ladyphlogiston



Series: A Tree of Life [2]
Category: Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton, Princess Bride (1987)
Genre: Advice, Bible, Gen, Relationship Advice, stop being an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 17:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyphlogiston/pseuds/ladyphlogiston
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Father Brown gives Westley something to think about while sailing after Vizzini</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Strong As Death

**Author's Note:**

> My mom really liked More Than Rubies, and she wanted me to do one for Romeo and Juliet. This happened instead. I'm making these into a series, so there might be more coming.
> 
> Westley is being a jealous idiot to be angry with Buttercup for marrying Humperdink. He'd left five years ago ("you only left me five years ago" while they are talking in the Fire Swamp) and she'd thought he was dead for most of that. He keeps the mask on, so he can scare her or test her or whatever is going through his head, and ends up getting pushed into a ravine. If she'd known it was him they might have gotten away. As it is, about half the plot is entirely his fault.

Westley tightened the sail, trying to coax a little more speed from the wind. He'd been lucky to find this boat in the harbor: light and fast and small enough to be easily managed by one person.

He'd been less lucky in his passenger.

Why on earth would this dumpy little priest go for a pleasure cruise in eel-infested waters? And why wouldn't he get off the boat?

Westley hadn't killed him. There didn't seem to be much point. He had tied his hands, but the man seemed to be quite content to sit and look at the stars.

"The stars are much stranger from the water," the man commented.

"Nonsense. They're the same stars wherever you are," snapped Westley.

"But they are. At home they are merely a detail, but here they are the detail. A thing is always more strange when you look at it properly," came the reply.

Westley ignored him.

"That's why you wear a mask, after all," continued the man.

"What?" asked Westley.

"Your mask. It makes men look at you properly, so that you will always be strange and never familiar. A man in a mask is never at home," the man said.

"I have no home," said Westley, unconsciously clenching his fist.

"You have no home or you refuse to have a home?" asked the man.

"I..." Westley realized he had no satisfactory answer to that question. "Look here, what's your name?" he finally demanded.

"I am Father Brown," the man said, peering up at him.

"Well, Father Brown, I am a pirate. The Dread Pirate Roberts needs no home."

"I see," replied Father Brown.

They were silent a minute.

"Where are we going?" asked Father Brown.

"I don't know. We're chasing that ship. And if you let me focus on sailing properly, we'll catch her."

"And then what will you do?"

Westley stared out across the water. He didn't have a plan, not really. His men had been tracking Vizzini and reported the kidnapping, and he'd raced after them without thought. "Wring her neck," he finally answered.

"So you do have a home," said Father Brown.

Westley glanced balefully down at him, but decided to ignore him. He had no home - he'd lost his home the day Buttercup decided to marry another. But if she was no longer home, he shouldn't be going after her.

Finally he sighed. He hadn't spoken of Buttercup in over four years. "I...had a home. A love. I left her to seek my fortune, to make a new life for us. Now I have come back, and I find she is marrying another in less than a month."

"You feel she should have waited for you," said Father Brown, when Westley did not say anything more.

"Of course she should have waited for me!" he shouted. "Waited for me, as I have waited for her! I never doubted her faithfulness for a moment, but she has betrayed me!"

"I see."

Father Brown sat quietly and watched the stars. All the fury and grief and love was nothing new to them: they had seen it before and would see it again.

"How long were you gone?" he finally asked.

"I left five years ago," came the reply.

"And joined the pirates?"

"We were captured by pirates on the voyage across the sea. I joined their crew later. No one has recognized me since; I was reported dead."

"And love is a strong as death," murmured Father Brown.

Westley left the prow of the ship and turned to look Father Brown in the eyes. "Death cannot stop true love. I would have died before I wed another. Is that not what your faith believes? What profit is it if a man keeps his life but loses his immortal soul?"

Father Brown smiled up at him. "Are you God, then? For God is the one who searches our hearts. He is the one who keeps our souls."

"But she is mine! We had true love, and she threw it away!" Westley shouted.

"She belongs to God, as do you. She was bought with a great price. Would you steal what is His?" asked Father Brown.

Westley snarled and turned away.

Father Brown softly chanted:  
"'Three things are too wonderful for me,  
four beyond my knowledge —  
the way of an eagle in the sky,  
the way of a snake on a rock,  
the way of a ship on the open sea,  
and the way of a man with a girl.'"

"I prefer ships, I think," said Westley bitterly, "They stay were you put them."

"True. But they are not alive until they leave the harbor and confront the endless power of the sea," replied Father Brown.

"I suppose you expect me to forgive her. I expect I shall, in the end, but how she could have gone and gotten herself engaged to a prince is beyond me."

"Her parents are wealthy then?" asked Father Brown.

"Sorry?"

"Her parents have the wealth and connections to attract a prince?"

"No. They have their own farm, but they are not especially wealthy. I am certain the prince wants her for her beauty alone. She was beautiful when I left, and I expect she is more beautiful now."

"I see."

Father Brown appeared content to sit and watch the lightening sky, but his words stuck in Westley's mind. It was true that Buttercup's family was not nearly wealthy enough to have any power over Humperdink. They could not have sought this marriage for her - and they could not have refused it, either. And if Buttercup had no way of knowing he was alive, she had no way of asking him for help.

"What does the Bible say of those who are forced to marry?" he finally asked.

"'He found her in the countryside, and she cried out, but there was no one to hear her,'" quoted Father Brown. "She is considered innocent, because she had no choice."

Westley nodded. His Buttercup, trapped by a prince known for his ruthlessness. She could have died, but for what purpose?

She had not known the truth, but now the truth would set her free.

They were approaching the Cliffs of Insanity. He saw Vizzini get out, and the two men he had hired, and Buttercup, her flawless arms bound in front of her and her autumn-colored hair long and loose in the gentle breeze. They harnessed themselves together and the giant began to climb. This he could do.

He maneuvered the ship into the narrow bay, close enough to wade to shore. He cut the ropes binding Father Brown's hands, so that the man could get himself to safety.

He took off his mask, dropped it on the sand, and began to climb.

**Author's Note:**

> Various Bible verses are scattered about, but the ones Father Brown quotes are in Proverbs 30 and Deuteronomy 22.
> 
> I haven't the faintest idea how Father Brown would get home, to be honest. Presumably either he wandered off and found a footpath somewhere, or Rugen arranged for his transport back to Florin.


End file.
